A Mass Customisation Methodology for Adapting Single-Family Pattern-Book Houses into Older People’s Cohousing

Belcic Thaysen, Anna (author), Planišček, Anja (mentor), Eloy, Sara (comentor), Mali, Jana (comentor)

An ageing population puts great pressure on existing residential infrastructure. It reveals the limited scope of suitable residential typologies and organisational models for older people, most of whom are increasingly active and independent members of modern society. Institutional accommodation in the form of homes for older people has proven to be less suitable and undesirable for the majority, except for the oldest and most vulnerable members of the demographic group, as it relocates them away from their familiar home environment, often making them passive and detached as a result. Major related problems include the absence of alternative and personalised residential typologies, the inaccessibility of rental apartments, attachment to one’s owned real estate and the burden of maintaining it, economic weakness, and loneliness. There is a desire to develop community-based forms of “ageing-in-place”, which is also endorsed by national documents and strategies. However, there are no concrete action plans or studies addressing locally appropriate ways of solving the housing issue of older people as relates to the culture, legislation, and organisational frameworks seen in Slovenia. Residential typologies and organisational models for older people in other consulted countries reveal a wider range of possibilities. To respond to the problem of oversized, poorly utilised single-family houses, in which most older people often live today, this thesis proposes a methodology for adapting such houses into small-scale cohousing groups for older people. This could help answer the problem of enabling ageing within the community, prevent older people from being uprooted from their familiar home environment, alleviate their loneliness, and at the same time take advantage of the existing building stock that needs revitalisation. To achieve these goals, this thesis proposes models of organisational solutions that would enable the realisation of cohousing groups within old single-family houses, as well as the development of a mass customisation design system to transform the architecture of the houses in question to fit their new program of cohousing for older people.

• Language: English
• Keywords: residential architecture, cohousing, housing, older people, community-based ageing, renovation, adaptation, transformation, shape grammars, mass customisation, organisational models, cohabitation.
• Work type: Doctoral dissertation
• Typology: 2.08 - Doctoral Dissertation
• Organization: FA - Faculty of Architecture
• Publication status: Published
• Place of publishing: Ljubljana
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: 298 str.
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-174401
• COBISS.SI-ID: 254612483
• Publication date in RUL: 02.10.2025

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Metodologija množičnega prilagajanja tipskih enodružinskih hiš za sobivanje starih ljudi

Abstract

Staranje prebivalstva predstavlja velik pritisk na obstoječo grajeno infrastrukturo za bivanje. Hkrati razkriva premajhen nabor primernih tipov bivanja za stare ljudi, ki so v sodobni družbi vse bolj aktivni in neodvisni. Zavodska nastanitev v obliki domov za stare ljudi se je za večino izkazala za neprimerno in nezaželeno, razen najstarejših in najbolj pomoči potrebnih, saj ljudi iztrga iz domačega okolja in jih lahko pasivizira. Velika težava je odsotnost alternativnih in personaliziranih tipov bivanja, nedostopnost najemnih stanovanj, navezanost na lastne nepremičnine in obenem breme njihovega vzdrževanja, ekonomska šibkost ter osamljenost. Poraja se želja po razvoju skupnostnih oblik »staranja na mestu«, ki jih propagirajo tudi nacionalni dokumenti in strategije, vendar ni akcijskih načrtov in študij, ki bi naslavljali prave, kulturno, pravno in organizacijsko ustrezne načine reševanje stanovanjskega vprašanja starejših oseb. Primeri oblik bivanja za stare ljudi iz drugih držav kažejo na mnogo širšo paleto možnosti, kot jo danes poznamo v Sloveniji. Z namenom odzivanja na problematiko prevelikih, slabo izkoriščenih enodružinskih hiš, v katerih pogosto bivajo stari ljudje danes, predlaga ta disertacija metodologijo prilagajalnja omenjenih hiš v sobivanjske skupine starih ljudi. S tem bi odgovorili na problematiko omogočanja staranja v skupnosti, preprečili iztrganist iz domačega okolja, poskrbeli za lajšanje osamljenosti starih ljudi in obenem izkoristili obstoječi stavbni fond, ki potrebuje revitalizacijo. Da bi dosegli omenjeni rezultat, disertacija predlaga modele organizacijskih rešitev, ki bi omogočili udejanjenje takšnih skupnosti, in pa razvoj sistema množičnega prilagajanja za preoblikovanje arhitekture omenjenih enodružinskih hiš za sobivanje starih ljudi.

• Keywords: stanovanjska arhitektura, sobivanje, bivanje za stare ljudi, staranje v skupnosti, prenova, prostorska prilagoditev, likovne slovnice, množično prilagajanje arhitekture, organizacijski modeli sobivanja.